TOk 29

by zPrevious Student, on April 11th, 2011

My real life situation for the oral presentation is ‘Tiger Woods’ and infidelity; cheating on your ‘significant others.’ My knowledge issue, hence, is ‘can reason ever overrule strong emotions?’ the progress I have made are quite a bit.

Maybe being emotional is what being human is all about?

“It’s a pretty common belief that women tend to use the left, more emotional side of their brain, and men the right, more logical side. But is it really that cut and dry? It seems that when it comes to the affairs of the heart, there is a battle between what we know and what we feel. But what do you do when you find yourself in a situation that leads back and forth between left and right side? When it comes to relationships, is it smarter to follow your heart or your head? – sometimes, it isn’t a left or right brainer, it is a no brainer.” Do people always use either one? Can we use both? Are there any interrelations between them? Can a person be both logical and emotional?

I have been told that I am emotional quite a bit but at the same time, people have told me that I am logical too. When it comes to matters of love, is it better to follow your heart or head? At times, it is clear that listening to your heart will at the end, in fact, break your heart. But even if we know all this, don’t we still listen to our heart? Why so? Can head ever win? Sometimes, it feels like it is a gamble. Say you like someone and you aren’t sure if that person likes you back. It is a gamble whether you should choose to act on it or not. If that other person is already in love, can you ever stop loving them? There is ‘hope.’ That stupid hope. We hope that the other person will stop loving the other one and love us. But in reality, that is 99.999999% impossible.

2 comments to TOk 29

Sylvia, I like the thought process through this question: can one be both logical and emotional?

But isn’t everyone a bit of both?

I have never met someone who is completely emotional, who makes no logical decisions whatsoever and just goes with what they feel like. At the same time I have never met anyone who put no emotion into anything they do. Someone who only makes decisions depending on logic, and none on how they feel about the situation. Therefore, doesn’t everyone find some center point between the two? Some people may be more emotional than others, but they still have some sense in them.

yeah i saw your comment and changed my presentation a bit (: thanks
i changed the question into can we be equally logical and emotional?
as in, be both and on the same level?
maybe we are born that way but our environment, some factors, the situation and oh so many other things change the way of knowing for us
or maybe some might believe that we are just born more emotionally/logically. if so, can anyone be both to an equal extent ?

Important Dates

Bertrand Russell on Skepticism

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But if philosophy is to serve a positive purpose, it must not teach mere skepticism, for, while the dogmatist is harmful, the skeptic is useless. Dogmatism and skepticism are both, in a sense, absolute philosophies; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is certainty, whether of knowledge or of ignorance. Knowledge is not so precise a concept as is commonly thought. Instead of saying "I know this," we ought to say "I more or less know something more or less like this."

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Is TOK a Philosophy Course?

YES, in the sense that the name of the course itself is in any dictionary effectively synonymous with "epistemology."

NO, in the sense that IB-specific ToK has many philosophical elements, but is not just philosophy. ToK is at root an interdiscipinary course that allows students to become aware of how the six subject-groups on the corners on the Diploma hexagon overlap and integrate. The interdisciplinary aspect is the crucial thing . . . .